When the calendar flips to January 2012 and you’ll be looking on your cable guide to find Versus for a big night of NHL action, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for something different. The long-awaited renaming of Versus is coming on January 2, 2012 and since NBC’s merger with Comcast, Versus is getting a visible upgrade in changing the name from Versus to NBC Sports Network.

The timing of the name change is no secret as there’s plenty of big time events going on at the start of the year with the conclusion of the NFL season on January 1, as well as NBC’s Sunday Night Football. January 2 brings the NHL Winter Classic from Philadelphia and the NFL Playoffs begin on January 7 with the Wild Card round.

For us hockey nuts, of course, the national broadcast package for the NHL is on Versus and having the channel switch names to NBC Sports Network means that you’ll get to see Doc Emrick and Pierre McGuire and the host of others flying the NBC flag not just on Sundays but during the week as well.

Many of you have been curious just what Versus would be named when the merger happened earlier this year, and now you’ve got your answer. It all starts anew on January 2.